Working in the healthcare industry can be quite gratifying — helping people feel better who are suffering, comforting the patient’s concerned family members and friends, and making a difference to the most vulnerable population. On the other hand, being a front-line medical worker is known to be stressful, as well as emotionally and physically taxing. These ‘healthcare heroes’ including nurses, technicians, physicians, and therapists, are encountering additional challenges due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Supporting our medical frontline workers is essential as we have now surpassed a full calendar year fighting COVID-19.

1. Publicly acknowledge nurses on social media. The popular poet Maya Angelou once said, “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Angelou believed that everyone simply wants to be ‘seen’ — giving a healthcare hero a shout out can go a long way for their morale. Taking the time to acknowledge their sacrifices could be the reason a sleep deprived nurse musters up the energy to tackle their next shift. This platform gives you the opportunity to download a picture and then share it on a social media outlet. Although all medical workers are invaluable, nurses in particular are the heartbeat of healthcare.
2. Do not take medical supplies from providers. When you’re visiting a healthcare clinic, office or hospital as a patient or a visitor, do not take their supplies, including hand sanitizers, face masks, medical gloves, or toilet paper. Personal protection equipment has been in short supply since the beginning of the pandemic; taking their inventory only exacerbates the problem and hinders caring for their patients.
3. Donate to organizations who support healthcare workers. There is no shortage of reputable charities and corporate companies to donate funds to, who support frontline workers. For example, Intrahealth International directly assists medical workers by providing essential services and supplies.
4. Pay their parking fees. Many hospitals are located in urban cities, which require street parking with paid meters. The next time you’re nearby a local medical facility, pay for a healthcare worker’s parking. Better yet, if it’s a teaching hospital, call the local nursing school and ask how you can help pay for the students parking. And if the healthcare system doesn’t require parking meters for employees, you can simply leave a thank you note on the windshield of healthcare workers who display stickers/decals on their vehicles.
5. Send money with a click. It is simple to make a small donation to medical staff. Pay-Pal and Venmo make it easy to transfer a ‘thinking of you’ gift for them to grab a cup of coffee or a meal from their favorite restaurant. No matter how they use the contribution, it will make a difference just knowing that they matter.
6. Connect with a local caterer or restaurant to arrange for donated meals. Inevitably there will be local food providers who are more than happy to make a donation to their local medical facility. Either the business can donate the meals 100% out of their own pockets, or you can help arrange collecting monetary donations from the community to cover the hard costs for these meals. Next, call your hospital’s local unit (e.g. emergency room, ICU, etc.) and ask to speak to the supervisor. Tell them you’d like to have a complimentary meal donated for the daytime and evening staff, and make arrangements to meet any COVID-19 safety protocols.
7. Donate and drop off groceries. Arrange to have groceries and household essentials delivered to frontline medical workers’ homes. You can do this yourself, or work with an online third party delivery service to do the shopping and driving.
8. Get tested. Get vaccinated. If you’re experiencing symptoms of the coronavirus, such as loss of taste or a fever, it’s extremely important to isolate immediately. Call your doctor’s office to see if they have tests available, and if they offer outdoor testing so you can avoid going inside and possibly infecting other patients, which would also put a greater burden on the medical staff. Unlike the earlier part of this pandemic, both rapid and PCR testing is more readily available. Additionally, there are more and more COVID-19 vaccines available, and states across the United States are starting to loosen their restrictions on who can receive it based on qualifications such as age.
9. Donate your time. Volunteer with your community’s Red Cross; there may be opportunities to deliver supplies and other important assistance to support COVID-19 efforts.
10. Donate blood. Another way to give back is by donating blood if you’re qualified to do so. You can find local blood drives in your area, or schedule an appointment.

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The rapid public health response to the pandemic demanded changes in delivering medical education. These course corrections magnified the necessity to broaden the scope of expertise among physicians and physicians-in-training across the United States.

Restrictions on Medical Educators

During the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare educators provided advice and guiding tenants in hopes of supporting medical physicians by helping them protect the health of their communities.

One of the major pandemic-driven challenges among the medical education community was the inability to provide a traditional clinical learning experience for students.

Due to the decreased accessibility of personal protective equipment, restricted COVID-19 testing capabilities, as well as unclear knowledge of how exactly the virus is transmitted, schools were hesitant to put students and patients in harm’s way.

Making matters worse was the decreased amount of patients (outside of those with the coronavirus searching for health care. Healthcare educators and residents had their hands full with COVID-19 case upswings, which caused sparse capacity to manage their medical students.

Online & Remote Learning

One of the most effective measures to prevent contracting COVID-19 is staying six feet apart through social distancing. This physical restriction makes it nearly impossible for students to learn in a brick and mortar setting such as lecture halls or in small group
meetings.

Prior to the pandemic, instructors had already started to incorporate virtual lessons, making it easier for students to learn in a variety of settings. However, students were still meeting in-person in labs, bedside learning, and clinical lessons.

Faculty had to swiftly shift their curriculum to virtual presentations. Formats included online small group and team environments. Exams were also given remotely. The jump from the medical school location to home created increases in emails, feelings of isolation, and challenges with creating parameters between professional and personal
lives.

Graduating Early

The only public medical school in the state of Massachusetts, the University of Massachusetts, graduated their fourth-year medical students two months early. Doing so allowed the physicians to care for patients and mitigate staffing shortages during the
pandemic influx.

According to an NIH published medical journal, “These restrictions on the usual medical education model of clinical workplace learning required medical educators to outline priorities for the limited clinical learning experiences and design different approaches to competency attainment.”

The journal goes onto to say, “Guided by their established graduation competencies, schools prioritized clinical learning experiences for those students close to graduation, ensuring adequate preparation of the 2020 intern workforce. Some schools graduated students early so they could join the workforce.”

Conclusion

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to persist, there is no end in sight for a total or swift return to how traditional medical education is delivered. Since the COVID-19 crisis began, it has exposed some clear improvements in medical education offered by distant instruction.

The academic community is reaching a broader audience, as well as extending clinical care by embracing virtual medicine more widely. Medical education’s “new normal” will ultimately improve by integrating the best aspects of both traditional teaching and post COVID-19 lessons.

Stay tuned for upcoming Auxo Medical blog posts where we’ll be discussing burnout among healthcare workers, and how to best support this community.

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